COEUR d'ALENE — Wearing glasses and a brown dress coat, Heather Lynn Crawford looked on as seven of the prosecution's witnesses took the stand Wednesday, the first day of her long-awaited trial.

The 28-year-old Kingston woman is charged with first- degree murder in the August 2014 death of 22-month-old Ezra Wilson, the daughter of Crawford’s former live-in ex-boyfriend Hiram Wilson. Wilson is the son of former Pinehurst Police Chief Rocky Wilson.

Because Shoshone County couldn't establish an impartial jury, the trial is being held in Kootenai County with Coeur d'Alene-area jurors.

The prosecution alleges Crawford killed Ezra by way of suffocation and/or another manner which resulted in the deprivation of oxygen. She was arrested in November 2014 and posted $100,000 bond the following January.  

Shoshone County Prosecutor Keisha Oxendine and defense attorney Anne Taylor began with their opening arguments before calling witnesses to the stand, including: both responding EMTs, a 911 dispatcher, Ezra's mother and Wilson's ex-wife Naomi Bywaters, Shoshone County deputy J.D. Allen, Idaho State Police's Jonathan Cushman and Dr. David James Luther, formerly of Shoshone Medical Center.

"Over the course of this trial you will hear evidence and the state will prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that the only person with a motive, opportunity and the intent to kill Ezra Wilson and cause her death is the defendant," Oxendine said.

Crawford, who has three children of her own, claims that around midnight Aug. 22 at her and Wilson's home, she woke up to a cold breeze and open doors before noticing Ezra wasn't in her playpen. When she walked into the bathroom, she claims to have seen the words "murder scumbag daughter" written on the mirror before waking Wilson and then finding the unresponsive child in the home and calling for help.

When audio of the 911 call was played for the jury Wednesday, people in the courtroom were obviously emotional. They heard a recording of a frantic and crying Crawford and Wilson as the couple were coached by dispatch through CPR of the unresponsive child.

Oxendine affirmed why she believes Crawford will be found guilty.

"You'll hear evidence that during law enforcement's initial contact with the defendant at Shoshone Medical Center, that among other possibilities for them to investigate, (Crawford) talked-about ghost-like things happening in the house and prior writings on the mirror. You'll hear in another interview with ISP detectives where she admits that she was awake that night and was moving in and out of the house several times, and that Hiram was asleep until she woke him up telling him that the doors were open and Ezra had disappeared,” Oxendine said.

Oxendine said police interviewed Naomi Bywaters, Ezra’s mom.

Bywaters will testify, Oxendine said, that Crawford complained Ezra pushed Crawford’s daughter down the stairs several weeks prior to that August evening.

Crawford’s co-worker will testify that Crawford asked her if she has ever been jealous of her own stepdaughter, Oxendine said.

“Days after Ezra's death, law enforcement was contacted by the defendant's stepfather who expressed concern about Ezra's death,” the prosecutor added.

Evidence will show, Oxendine said, that Crawford attempted to send her two older children to her stepfather’s home in Montana the same weekend Ezra died.

Prosecutors also noted that officers interviewed Ezra's aunt, who will testify Crawford contacted her and talked about taking her own life after a formal Idaho State Police interview in 2014.

"Everything that I have done was to pull Hiram and I closer together, but all I did was pull us apart, so I guess it is just about Ezra and Hiram after all," Ezra's aunt testified Crawford said, according the prosecutors.

Wilson broke up with Crawford in the weeks following Ezra's death. In February 2015, court records say Wilson said Crawford was a consistently medicated alcohol user who thought Ezra was possessed. Wilson also noted Crawford took thyroid and anxiety medication and drank alcohol the day of Ezra's death and had a history of writing cryptic messages on the mirror.

Taylor painted a much different picture of her defendant.

"She is a young woman. She is somebody's mother, somebody's daugther, somebody's sister, somebody's wife. She's a human being," Taylor said.

Taylor showed images of Crawford's former home to the jury, pointing out the layout and where the open doors were. It was the happy home of a family that planned a trip to Silverwood that weekend, Taylor said.

"She falls asleep, wakes up probably an hour later and she feels cold. It appears strange to her to feel cold, and she brings up to the detectives later that the carpet and her bedroom door are a tight fit, and that the bedroom door is mostly shut. It's strange to feel cold, but she feels cold, anyway, like a cool breeze came in," Taylor said.

Crawford opened that door, and the first thing she saw, Taylor said, was the back door wide open, just feet from her bedroom. After seeing the writing on the mirror, Crawford went to get Ezra and the toddler was not in her playpen.

Taylor questioned why Wilson was never a suspect given his past.

Wilson was convicted of two counts of accessory to first-degree murder in 2009 in which a friend shot and killed a young couple at Dobson Pass near Wallace.

"(ISP Det. Charles Greer) was the detective that investigated Dobson Pass. He was the detective who worked with Hiram Wilson when Hiram Wilson got a lesser charge. He knew Hiram Wilson. And through knowing Hiram Wilson, he knew Hiram Wilson's father (former Pinehurst Police Chief) Rocky Wilson),” Taylor said.

The defense attorney said another ISP detective, Terry Morgan, ruled Wilson out as a suspect almost immediately. She said Morgan told Naomi Bywaters just four days after Ezra’s death that he didn’t think Wilson did it.

"Terry Morgan told Hiram in an interview, ‘You were never a suspect. We need your help in this case just like we needed your help in Dobson Pass,’” Taylor said.

"There was never a fair look at anybody else. It was a rush to judgment to point the finger at her. It was an unfair investigation, and you'll see that.”

The trial will resume today at 9 a.m.